INCREASING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY WITHOUT BIG STRESS!

Chris Egbu MBA, CMC, FCA

Strategies for getting through big projects or tasks without driving yourself crazy.

Office cleaning. Term papers. Large projects for work. Doing your taxes. Any of these things might fray a person's nerves, but they need not be that way. Even though large projects such as these can put a lot of stress on a person they can be made easy and even fun if you put the right kind of energy into it. Here are some tips for making those huge projects smaller, easier, a lot more fun, and a lot less stressful!

Break It Down Of all the advice one could receive for tackling big projects, this is by far the most important. Break down a big task into a bunch of smaller ones. Let's take a term paper for an example:

go to the library

find some books

read the books

mark important passages

create a thesis

write the first paragraph

write the first page

write the second page

etc, etc...

Yes, you'd be doing the same amount of work. This way, though, it doesn't seem as daunting as "WRITING A TERM PAPER". You can take breaks in between each small step. Write your thesis, then take a fifteen minute break. Then write that first paragraph, and take another fifteen minute break.

Enjoyably Multitask

I don't recommend multitasking unless you are doing both your project and something enjoyable simultaneously. I'm not talking about watching TV while trying to go over some important business matters, however; you need to find something enjoyable that doesn't take away from your concentration. What do I mean? Let's take the example of cleaning. What else can you do while you clean to make things more fun? Try listening to music, singing along, or even dancing while you work. If you're trying to finish a project for work, listen to some music or relax with a cup of coffee or tea as you do your work. Try to find a way to make your work fun.